


sing it back

by littlelionvanz



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: M/M, Noah the Pop Punk Ghost, brief mention of death, maybe some kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-30 03:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5148404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlelionvanz/pseuds/littlelionvanz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Compared to Ronan, or even Gansey who was an even less frequent visitor, Noah didn’t need supervision. He was content to entertain himself with the minimalism of Adam’s apartment. He could find endless fascination out of dust, old paper, or even a broken pen. It made him a welcome visitor, for Adam to not have to apologize for the mess or take what time he didn’t have to spend time with Noah or else feel guilty for being a bad friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sing it back

**Author's Note:**

> Is there honestly any other fics focusing on Adam and Noah being friends??? Well here have Noah introducing Adam to the enriched history territory of pop punk

Adam started to think it was a game after a while. While Noah thought it was hilarious that Adam _always_ got startled when he suddenly appeared from the ether, Adam found it incredibly annoying. Because it always worked. Poofing into the passenger seat while Adam was driving, poofing in the mirror while he brushed his teeth, or simply a shadow behind the shower curtain while he showered.

Noah would grin and Adam would curse, “Jesus goddamn Christ, Noah!” And while there was  always the slight possibility that he was going to have a heart attack one of these days, or crash the car, for some reason he was never actually angered by it. If Adam ever thought about it long enough, he never found himself annoyed by Noah in any way.

Noah rarely poofed into Adam’s apartment because Adam was usually asleep, at work, or with Ronan. But when he did, Adam was always strangely comforted by his ghost-friend’s company. His overall presence in Adam’s life was not at all overbearing so whatever alone company they got to share was nice. Although once, Adam got to witness Noah reenacting his death - all eleven minutes of the ordeal which shook Adam for days and embarrassed and upset Noah so much he avoided Adam for a week. It was at least a month before Noah returned to St. Agnes, and even then they didn’t speak. He left Adam a drawing of a cat in the dust motes which Adam walked around until it disappeared the next day.

 

On an evening in which Adam had off work and shockingly Ronan wasn’t abusing this time to drive all over the county and back, Adam was reading about the different markets for his economics class and dozing off when he felt a sudden chill. The mattress just barely dipped and there was Noah, leaning back against the wall and picking at the corner of Adam’s pillow.

“Jesus god damn it, Czerny,” Adam gritted, heart rate spiking, “I thought we talked about this.”

“You said not when you’re driving and not when you’re showering so you don’t fall and break your back or crash your car and die,” Noah said dryly and rolling his eyes. “You’re doing neither of those things.”

Adam shook his head and went back to his reading. Compared to Ronan, or even Gansey who was an even less frequent visitor , Noah didn’t need supervision. He was content to entertain himself with the minimalism of Adam’s apartment. He could find endless fascination out of dust, old paper, or even a broken pen. It made him a welcome visitor, for Adam to not have to apologize for the mess or take what time he didn’t have to spend time with Noah or else feel guilty for being a bad friend.

“Did Ronan bring this over?” Noah asked after a while, gesturing to the boom box in the far corner. Adam looked up briefly and shook his head.

“Nah, he dreamed it. He was too lazy to actually bring one from Monmouth. Apparently this was more convenient.”

Noah snorted, “Oh Ronan, always a treasure.”

“He seems to think so,”

The boombox wasn’t the only dream item that Ronan brought back with him. Sometimes there were flowers, once there was a pair of scissors, a cowboy hat, a leatherbound book with no words on the pages. All these little trinkets and souvenirs began to pile themselves in the corner of the room. He meant to tell Ronan next time he saw him, to start taking his dream crap to Monmouth.

By the time Adam had finished his last set of notes for the chapter and was about to continue his annotation of _Their Eyes Were Watching God_ for AP Lit, Noah was still there. Usually after about twenty minutes or so, Noah would fade away as if he’d never been there to begin with, either from boredom or lack of energy to keep him tangible. Adam rarely asked about it and Noah never talked about it.

But Noah still hung around, which Adam honestly didn’t mind. He wondered absentmindedly if it would be weird to thank Noah for dropping the temperature of the room because it was such a warm evening. But how could he say it without it ultimately sounding like “Hey thanks for being said so I can study in moderate comfort.”

But while mulling over this, music started playing.

Not the god awful dial up techno garbage that Ronan made Adam suffer through him against his will, but what sounded like rock music. There was guitar and drums and possibly a melody if Adam was actually paying attention. He must have brought a CD with him - _Wait can be bring items with him when he poofs?_ Adam made a mental note to ask about that later.

Noah was on the floor, laying on his back, rocking his head back and forth to the beat. His eyes were closed as he began to sing.

_“Please don't mind what I'm trying to say 'cause I'm, I'm being honest-”_

He was singing in an almost whisper, Adam had never heard the song before. The song wasn’t bad, though not playing very loudly so Adam could barely make it out with his half hearing.

“You know I saw this band once,” Noah said, rolling his head to the side on the wooden floor to look at Adam. “Warped Tour. Only they were late by like an hour and their set almost got cancelled. But they showed up and played a few extra songs.”

Noah never really talked much about his life before. No one really ever asked.

The next song came and Adam saw him grin excitedly and throw an arm over his face.

“Shit I remember this!”

Noah remained on the floor, spread eagle  belting out lyrics to what he informed Adam as the quintessential song of his generation; “ _The Anthem_ ” by Good Charlotte, whoever they were.

It wasn’t terrible.

Several songs came and went, Noah belting choruses that he probably screamed at concerts, if Adam had to guess. It was remarkable how even years later he still remembered all the lyrics. Maybe it was like riding a bike, just something you never forgot. He was filled with so much trivia on individual songs, anecdotes about singers Adam had never heard of, concerts he was too young to attend, and events that had little to no effect on Adam altogether-  but Noah regaled with such vivid detail, it suddenly hit Adam that of _course_ Noah was a teenager.

And he looked it then, now sitting up, smiling as he sang along to his favorite line in the middle of whatever story he was telling Adam in the moment. He took the moment to regard Noah then. Truth be told, they found out that Noah was in fact dead and a ghost, it was hard to not see him as anything else. Adam felt guilty then.

He was wearing an Aglionby uniform, as he had died in, but there were so many peculiar details that Adam hadn’t noticed before. The rip in the knee of his black pants that were skinnier in the ankle than most standard pants, the black and white checker board pants that held them up, the wallet chain that hung from two belt loops, his scuffed up Chucks that had been doodled all over with pen and marker. In truth, he wasn’t that much different than Adam, physically. Taller than most, not as skinny as you’d expect if you actually looked, messy unkempt hair. Though in Noah’s defense, that was probably the style, Adam truly had no excuse.

Noah was probably really well-loved by people who knew him. It suddenly made Adam feel sad for him, that this was now his fate, sitting in a dusty apartment reliving memories of happier times. There was so much that Noah didn’t deserve.

Adam had since given up on his reading when Noah came and sat back next to him.

“This was my favorite concert,” Noah mused when the next song rolled on instantly, “First time I kissed a girl. We met in the mosh pit. She got knocked down by some crowd surfer, but I picked her up and gave her my water. She might have been drunk, but this song was playing and everything was beautiful. Few minutes of beautiful.”

“You ever see her again?” Adam asked when Noah had gone quiet. He sounded so sad, and Adam hated it suddenly.

Noah shook his head, “No, concert trysts were usually short lived. It was more magic that way.”

“Sounds magic,” Adam mused. He couldn’t imagine having such a carefree youth as Noah had. Sure he had the gang and they had fun, but he wondered what it would be like to have just a few years of teenage freedom that wasn’t marred by labor and pain and pure exhaustion.

Noah leaned into him then, curling himself in Adam’s side, laying his head on his shoulder. Adam welcomed it, despite almost barely feeling his weight as anything heavier than a pillow. He rested his cheek against the curls of Noah’s head, he smelled of dust and smoke.

The songs played on some more upbeat than the others. Adam occasionally asked the name of them, and feeling fond of the smile Noah gave him when Adam accurately guessed that the band was recurring. He said that his parents used to think they all sounded the same, so he liked that Adam could spot the difference.

Noah was no longer singing, even though by Adam’s estimation, some of the choruses demanded shouting. He did like it.

For a moment he thought Noah might have been sleeping, which would strike as odd. But if Adam had to guess, the memories that he had to be reliving just seemed too painful, too nostalgic to brag about. It felt as though any moment, Noah was going to fade away.

He took Noah’s cold clammy hand. It unfolded itself and allowed Adam to fold his fingers between his. To ground him, keep him there. Noah had never felt more tangible and real to him in that moment, with the faint scabs on the back of his knuckles as if it were just last week he was dicking around with his friends like Adam had done countless times with Ronan.

He was real now, sitting on Adam’s bed listening to music and holding his hand. There was a pull in Adam’s chest that wanted to remind him of that.

“Do you think I could hang onto this CD,” Adam asked breaking the silence between songs. “It’s not bad.”

Noah looked up at him then and grinned. Almost proudly. He just nodded and dipped his head, allowing his hair to fall in front of his eyes. Adam could have sworn his cheeks were darkening. If he _could_ blush, he was right now. He allowed himself to muse over how _cute_ Noah was then. Not cute like a kid was cute or a small puppy, but cute like Adam felt a burn of fondness in his stomach just being around him at the moment. He had a smile that had to have won countless hearts before.

“I’ve got like, dozens of other mix CDs, if you want. I kinda stole them from my car... before it was impounded,” Noah said then, “If you ever get tired of this one. I’ve uh, I’ve got more.”

_Is he nervous?_

“Sure,” Adam nodded, “You can come over whenever, and we can listen. If you want.”

“Yeah I mean, I’m kinda made of time so why not.”

Adam laughed softly then, Noah followed. They were staring at each other, just briefly, when Noah looked away. There was no intention of either of them letting go of the other’s hand.

“You know if I were alive, if we went to school together or whatever,” Noah said no higher than a whisper, “There’s no guarantee that I wouldn’t have had a crush on you.”

Now it was Adam’s time to blush, his ears went hot as he bit his lip. He never did well with compliments.

“I very much doubt that,”

Noah pulled back and stared at him hard. “Adam Parrish, I will have you know you are quite the catch.”

Now he was just laying it on thick.

“You’re the exactly who Jesse Lacey wrote his gay songs about.”

Adam nudged him with his knee, “Alright, stop. His songs are depressing as hell.”

And then there was just the tiniest press of lips against his cheek. If Noah hadn’t been so close then, Adam would have thought it was just a feather in the breeze. When he looked at Noah, he was biting his lip, suppressing a grin. It made Adam’s chest feel warm.

Noah leaned forward again, slower, and Adam closed his eyes. The kiss wasn’t deep, nothing more than the sweetest sigh and softest grin and lips against lips. The simplicity of being close and being touched and loved for a moment. Noah brought his other hand up to cup Adam’s cheek to peck the corner of his mouth and press his nose against Adam’s.

“I’ll see you later?” Noah asked, still close.

Adam opened his eyes and nodded. He kissed Noah again, just briefly, just before he faded. Adam stretched his fingers around what felt like mist. He was still smiling when the CD started over and Adam let it play again. 

**Author's Note:**

> The first song is, "Honestly" by Cartel (which that was a true Warped Tour story btw.)
> 
> The song playing during Noah's first kiss was "Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World, (which was my favorite concert)
> 
> Hope you liked it! I'm [here](merovingiens.tumblr.com) on tumblr if you wanna stop by and talk about Adam and Noah being cute pop punk boyfriends


End file.
